How to Track Link in Bio Clicks with UTM Tags

Your link in bio is in five places. Analytics tell you visits came from "instagram.com" or, worse, "direct", because many apps open links in their own browser and send no referrer. UTM tags fix that.

What UTM tags are

UTM tags are extra parameters at the end of a link that analytics tools read. They do not change where the link goes. For example:

makerhandle.com/ada?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=bio

The five standard ones:

• utm_source: where the visit comes from, like instagram, youtube or newsletter
• utm_medium: the kind of placement, like bio, post or email
• utm_campaign: a specific push, like launch or devlog-12
• utm_content: to tell two links in the same place apart
• utm_term: originally for paid keywords; rarely needed here

A simple scheme that works

Keep it boring and consistent. Lowercase, hyphens, no spaces.

• Instagram bio: ?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=bio
• X bio: ?utm_source=x&utm_medium=bio
• YouTube video 12: ?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=devlog-12
• Newsletter issue: ?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=issue-34
• Resume for a job at Acme: ?utm_source=resume&utm_campaign=acme

Write your scheme down once. Consistency matters more than the exact words.

Why apps hide where visits come from

Instagram, TikTok and other apps often open links in an in-app browser. Depending on the app and version, the referrer may be missing or generic. Without UTM tags those visits show up as direct traffic, and you cannot tell your Instagram bio from someone typing your address.

What to look at

Once your links are tagged, check monthly:

• Visitors by source. Which platform actually sends people?
• Clicks by source. Visitors who click a project are worth more than visitors who leave.
• Campaigns. Which video, post or issue moved the needle?
• Bounce rate by source. High bounce from one platform means the post and the page do not match.

Doing this on makerhandle

makerhandle's built-in analytics read all five UTM parameters, and also understand a plain ?ref= or ?source= tag. Common sources are tidied up, so utm_source=ig and instagram count as the same place. You see campaigns next to sources, locations, devices and project clicks, with no cookies and no stored IP addresses. Export any report as CSV.

Free shows the last seven days. Pro keeps a year so you can compare campaigns months apart. See analytics.

One more trick

Tag the links on your page too, if the destinations use analytics. A project link like yourapp.com?utm_source=makerhandle tells your app's analytics how many signups came from your link in bio. Together you can follow a visitor from a post, to your page, to your product.